Sakura
by Smerup100
Summary: This will be where all my one-short with Sakura x someone will end up. ;w;/
1. SakuraxItachi

Itachi sometimes wondered what he had done in his previous life to deserve this. _Especially_ when the boys wouldn't stop fighting, he had to count down from ten to make sure he wouldn't snap at them.

His foolish brother, Sasuke, and Naruto, the Hokage's son, rarely agreed on anything even _before_ they became a team. Then there was Kakashi who didn't seem to think he needs anyone except his father the white fang. And finally, there was his favorite student out of all of them: Sakura, the girl was always a polite and quiet girl, the one who always seemed to have an endless supply of Pocky and dango.

"Good morning Itachi-sensei!" Ah, think of the girl and she shall appear. He turned his head to look at her and nodded in return when Sakura offered a stick of dango. This was why he favored her over the rest of his students. She didn't mind sharing her seemingly-endless supply of dango with him, and really, her parents had raised her so well.

However, he had never looked into their fills her family's situation besides what he could glean from her upbringing. Itachi was not waiting to make opinions of them based on what someone else thought, after all. And because of that, Sakura remained a mystery to him. It was both interesting and frustrating for him since she wasn't a very open person, but that was okay, seeing how she was when she received praise from him and turned all red.

By contrast, Naruto was very loud and liked to let the whole village know what he thought about everything and anything, so Itachi had no problems knowing when something was wrong with him. Sasuke was his brother. For him, Sasuke was like an open book, even if he didn't talk much. Kakashi reminded him of himself when he was that age so it wasn't hard to see past his mask, either.

Funny enough, it was Sakura he had the hardest time reading. Her smiles could be either sad, bittersweet or a broken one and they all looked the same to him. He had never seen Sakura lose it… Hell, she had never even raised her voice when the boys said something mean or hurtful to her. Sasuke seemed to believe that Sakura was somehow beneath him since she didn't come from a clan nor had any important parents and because of that believed that she didn't understand nor had a right to voice her opinions. Itachi highly disapproved of this and often lectured him on it, though.

She was polite, gentle and holding all of them at a distance with that sadness that was hiding in her eyes. Itachi had taken her aside more than once to ask if she was okay and doing alright. It was probably in these moments that she looked the happiest, when her eyes would soften, and she looked ready to cry before thanking him for his concern. She always told that there was nothing wrong.

He noticed the bruises on her arms, but it was mostly hidden under her blouse. She didn't say anything them, so neither did he. She had said that if there were any problems she would come to him after all…

Still, he didn't like it and decided to change strategy; maybe some team bonding would do well. Either way, it was time to meet her parents, and maybe that would shed put some light on the case of her bruises...

"Alright, Team 7, we will all share dinner at my house. Be sure to bring your family, too," Itachi said when training was over. He had been nice today. He had only beaten them all into the ground until they couldn't stand anymore without giving them a mission afterward, like he usually did.

He watched as Sakura was the first one to stand up on shaking legs. It was odd how she was always the first one on her feet again, but it worried him that she had such a high pain toleration. No, that wasn't right… he worried for what that meant for her to have the highest tolerance in the team. In the end, he watched her walk away once again without saying anything.

* * *

He stood in the kitchen with his mother talking about how excited she was to finally meet the rest of his students and "Sasuke-chan's" teammates. His mother had come by earlier that day to help him make food for 12 people. He was unsure if Sakura only had one or two parents so he made food for two parents which totaled up to 12 people.

The first to arrive was with his father and brother, shortly followed by Kakashi and his dad. He could hear Naruto yelling way before Itachi saw him, which quite frankly, was no surprise with both of his parents right behind him. Now, they were only missing their only female member, and hopefully, she would show up any minute now.

This was the first time since meeting her that Sakura was late, granted it was only ten minutes, but still… When someone finally knocked on his door, it was not only Sakura that he came face-to-face with, but his own elder cousin smiling at him and Sakura standing hesitantly by his side.

"I apologize greatly, Itachi-sensei, for being late, but I got lost…" The longer she talked, the more it turned into a mumble. He swore she said something about Uchihas and clones and everyone looking alike, but that might just be him. Through it all, she never once looked him in the eyes and seemed to find the ground far more interesting.

He simply moved aside to let her in. He watched as she politely introduced herself to all the adults and greeted her teammates. He watched as his foolish brother simply ignored her until their mother jabbed him in the ribcage. As Sasuke finally gave a grunt in acknowledgment, mother's smile becomes more and more forced, glancing at her husband and gave him a look that clearly said, _"This is all your fault that he turned into such an arrogant person."_

They could agree on that much, at least. If only their mother knew that right now, Sasuke was actually being on his best behavior…

"Neh, Sakura-chan, do you not have parents?" Naruto finally asked. Itachi could tell that the blond boy had tried to hold back from asking but failed in the end. He watched as a grim look appeared on the Fourth Hokage's face at the question, as if he knew the answer but didn't like it.

"… Everyone has parents Naruto-san. Mine are just… no longer in the world of the living."

No one said anything after that. Sakura simply continued to eat as if nothing happened.

"How can you care so little about your own family?!"Sasuke hissed at her, and just as Itachi was about to say something, Sakura simply stood up. Itachi knew that whatever Sakura did next, his little brother had deserved it... but what he had not expected was for her to slap him.

"I was four when I watched my mother have a slow and painful death. She lost against the sickness. After that, I watched the man that I called father become a man broken beyond recognition, who turned to alcohol until his depression became too much for him… I was seven when he killed himself."

Her green eyes were lifeless. It seems that not even her anger was worthy of Sasuke. Itachi thought that it was a look that should never have been on her face in the first place.

"My father couldn't even love me after mother died, because I reminded him so much of her. He tried. I wanted to live, so I learned how to survive on my own. _You_ would never understand, Sasuke- _kun_ , because you will always have your clan to fall back on _. I had no one_ , I highly doubt that I will ever have someone at to have my back ever again… So get rid of your pride, or _it will be the death of you._ "

And just like that, she left. He wanted to follow her, but first, he would have to deal with his brother once and for all.

"I have never been more disappointed in you as I am now, Sasuke, nor have I ever been ashamed to call us siblings… _until today_. Do not bother showing up in my house again until you have fixed that attitude."

He took one glance at Sasuke and saw hurt ridden all over his face, but before he left to go after Sakura, Itachi paused one last time for his younger brother.

"Be gone by the time I return."

With that, he was out the door, looking for his student. One of his crows found her by the river. Instead of saying anything, Itachi simply sat down beside her and pulled her into his side. She began to cry all over again, holding onto him like a lifeline.

"Why did you come?" She asked, after most of her tears were gone. She looked up at him, and he was reminded of how vulnerable and innocent she really was. It made Itachi want to protect her for the rest of his life.

"I couldn't leave my favorite student alone, now, could I?"

It was not something he would ever voice aloud again, but the smile she gave him made up for it. Her smiles did odd things to him... and he wanted to see her smile like forever… preferably, only at him _, of course._

* * *

 _So this is where I will be placing all my one-shots ;w;/_

 _If you would like to see Sakura paired off, with someone just comment and I will look into it._


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Smerup100 here~~

I want to apologize for not writing anything in so long!  
But college gets to everyone...

Anyway, I'm back now and hopefully got more time to write now!

Also, I'm not stopping this story, but first I _am_ Going to go back and fix some of the grammar mistakes.

So yes, I'm back, oh! And sorry this isn't a capture.


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